Gwen carefully placed Aurelius Viremont on the ground and asked with concern, "What happened to you? Why did you suddenly fall from the sky?"
Aurelius Viremont displayed his exquisite acting skills. Using the fine control of the Six Eyes to manage his body, his expression and physical details were flawless as he cried out, "No, no! Why have my mutant abilities suddenly vanished?"
In the distance, Prowler heard Aurelius Viremont's helpless words and burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Didn't expect that, did you? We purchased a mutant suppression device secretly developed by the military. Your abilities will be suppressed for at least an hour! During this hour, you're no different from an ordinary human. A single bullet can kill you! And I, the Prowler, will be the one to slay the Demon!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Prowler turned into a blur and charged toward Aurelius Viremont, but Gwen intercepted him. Seeing Spider-Woman blocking his path, Prowler's expression turned cold. "You again, Spider-Woman. This time I'll kill you and the White Demon together!"
In the next instant, the two were locked in combat. For a short time, they were evenly matched, but several figures were rushing toward the location at high speeds. They were clearly Kingpin's subordinates.
Aurelius Viremont recognized several familiar faces among them: Tombstone, a supervillain with invulnerability and high-temperature skin; Scorpion, clad in high-tech battle armor similar to Prowler; and Doctor Octopus, a woman with four mechanical tentacles welded to her back.
Gwen saw the three supervillains approaching as well. She kicked Prowler away, used her webs to bind him to a streetlight, and then grabbed Aurelius Viremont, swinging away to escape. "How much longer until you recover?"
Spider-Woman tried to shake off the pursuing villains, but she had to dodge fire from numerous gang members who had suddenly appeared. As a result, she couldn't open up any distance; in fact, they were closing in.
Hearing Gwen's question, Aurelius Viremont gave a nonchalant smile. "I don't know... maybe it'll take a while, but it's also possible I'll recover in the next second!"
Hearing such an unreliable answer, Gwen was so annoyed she considered dropping him right then and there. However, remembering that the White Demon had saved her before, her kind nature prevented her from doing so. She snapped, "Can you be serious for a second? If they catch us, you're dead!"
Aurelius Viremont acted innocent. "I'm telling the truth!"
The mutant suppression device could only suppress Aurelius Viremont's innate mutant power, meaning while Energy Absorption was affected, his other techniques had not disappeared and remained fully functional. Furthermore, Energy Absorption was recovering at an incredibly fast rate. It would be back to full strength in about five minutes, far short of the hour Prowler had claimed. He wasn't lying to Gwen; he could use his abilities whenever he wanted, so "recovering at any moment" was factually correct.
Kind-hearted Gwen had no idea she was being toyed with by the mischievous white-haired man. She no longer had the energy to talk because the villains had caught up.
With the help of his allies, Prowler broke free from the webs. Being the fastest, he caught up first and used a throwing blade to cut Gwen's web line. Aurelius Viremont and Gwen plummeted to the ground, immediately surrounded by the group of supervillains.
Faced with so many enemies, Gwen felt the weight of the pressure, yet she remained optimistic. "Oh, this situation is really bad. I'm not sure what to do..."
Aurelius Viremont, still held in her arms, encouraged her. "Believe in yourself, you can do it! If things really go south, I've got your back."
Before Gwen could respond, Prowler mocked them. "White Demon, you can barely protect yourself without your powers, and you want to protect others? You can't protect anything!"
Scorpion, encased in his exoskeleton armor, looked at Aurelius Viremont with disdain. "So this is the White Demon? He's nothing special! Little spider, white-haired boy, it's time to die!"
Scorpion's mechanical legs lunged forward as he charged. His tail stinger rose high, thrusting violently toward Gwen, aiming to kill both her and Aurelius Viremont in one strike. Gwen managed to dodge the stinger only to be struck by Doctor Octopus's mechanical tentacle. She was sent flying, and Aurelius Viremont was knocked out of her arms, landing a distance away.
Aurelius Viremont landed smoothly using ordinary human athletic ability. He stood up and immediately looked toward the distant sky. Through the vision of the Six Eyes, he saw a helicopter hovering about ten kilometers away. At that distance, even with Lv.3 vision, it was just a blurry shadow. If his intuition hadn't told him he was being monitored, he likely wouldn't have noticed it at all.
Aurelius Viremont was growing impatient. The helicopter had stayed there for a long time and likely wasn't going to come any closer.
Nearby, Gwen was being overwhelmed by the combined attacks of the villains and could no longer keep an eye on Aurelius Viremont. Prowler walked up to Aurelius Viremont with a twisted grin. "The invincible White Demon is going to die right here. I imagine this will be the fourth news report to shock the world!"
Seeing that Aurelius Viremont still ignored him and was looking into the distance, Prowler's anger flared at the blatant disrespect. "Such arrogance! But that's fine. Your screams will be even more pleasing to my ears later!"
Prowler lunged at Aurelius Viremont, but before he could reach him, Gwen appeared again, shielding Aurelius Viremont. "Maybe you won't get the chance to kill him!"
Seeing the injuries Gwen had sustained, Prowler smiled cruelly. "No, you're both going to die here!"
A purple light glowed beneath Prowler's feet as his speed increased even further. Gwen tried to pull Aurelius Viremont out of the way, but a previous injury flared up, causing her body to stiffen for a fraction of a second. In that tiny window of delay, Prowler reached her, thrusting his razor-sharp claws toward her abdomen. "Die!"
The claws were too close. Even with Spider-Woman's agility, dodging was impossible. Gwen could only watch as the claws approached, ready to impale her and the man behind her.
Suddenly, Gwen's vision blurred. A tall figure stepped in front of her. An impatient, magnetic voice rang out from ahead. "It looks like it isn't coming any closer... Boring. What a waste of my time."
Gwen saw the white-haired man reach out his hand. Prowler's body stopped dead in front of him as if hitting a wall. The man casually flicked his arm, and a powerful repulsive force exploded. Everything in front of him, including Prowler's body, was blown away by the massive impact.
Gwen stared blankly at the remains of the Prowler, who had been crushed into a pulp, and the fan-shaped path of destruction stretching dozens of meters ahead. She swallowed hard, then heard the man mutter to himself.
"Tsk. Are Kingpin and that helicopter starting to run away? That won't do. It looks like I need to wrap this up quickly."